


Dark Clouds & Rain Days

by FireGiant



Category: Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers: Prime
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M, tags will be added as chapters are added
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-05
Updated: 2021-01-04
Packaged: 2021-03-08 21:20:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 8,261
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27163072
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FireGiant/pseuds/FireGiant
Summary: Elita's team tries to come to earth, but it doesn't quite go to plan leading them to be scattered around the world.
Relationships: Arcee/Green Female Autobot | Greenlight, Bulkhead/Wheeljack (Transformers), Bumblebee/Smokescreen (Transformers), Elita One/Optimus Prime
Comments: 4
Kudos: 30





	1. Entry

**Author's Note:**

> This takes place in just some random part of the time line.

The ship was lost, that much was certain. Trying to navigate their way through the solar system’s asteroid field had been a nightmare, their ship was not fit to make tight turns and quick dives to avoid the floating rocks. It was far too bulky and big. So when they picked up a signal of an asteroid coming straight towards them, there was little that they could have done. 

The asteroid had slammed into the side of the ship tearing a massive hole in the hull. It was a miracle no one got sucked out into the vacuum of space. What a horrible way to live the rest of one's life-cycle, to be floating endlessly through space. 

However, the asteroid had broken the ship, not destroyed it. Half the hull had been carved out by the floating rock, but that wasn’t enough to destroy the ship completely. The ship was still flyable, thank primus. 

But now that they had reached their destination, a little mud-ball called Earth, things had taken quite a turn. The entry along the ship’s hull had been ripped off, meaning that it was not protected by the inevitable heat when entering the planet’s atmosphere. But they didn’t realize this before they were already trying to land the ship and by that point, it had been too late. 

The heat and fire created by the entry had caused one of the ship’s fuel lines to ignite, and what was even worse was that that particular fuel line led straight to one of the ship’s engines.

They had been in the middle of trying to move through the planet’s dense atmosphere when they heard a loud boom and saw sparks and shrapnel flying off of the side of the ship. 

From that point forward they were losing an uphill battle. No matter how hard they tried to steer the ship, it just wouldn’t move. 

The commander had ordered them to get into escape pods, that their attempts to fly this ship were futile and it was a lost cause. Many of the team had agreed with her without question, either pairing up or going into the pod solo. 

But Moonracer had stayed behind. She couldn’t just leave her commander behind like this. It had her feel sick to her tanks. 

She ran from the lower decks up to the control room. But with the ship’s rocking, it made it very difficult to move throughout it. She could be halfway down a hall, the ship would roll onto its side and she would be thrown to the end, sometimes she was thrown in the direction she wanted to go, but things rarely worked in her favor. 

But she finally made it to the control rooms, where she ran headlong into Chromia who apparently had the same sentiment as she did. 

The two femmes ran into each other and fell apart on the floor. Chromia stumbled back, while Moonracer fell flat on her aft.

“Moonracer what are ya doin’ here?” Chromia shouted over the roaring of the ship. 

“I’m here to get the commander.” Moonracer yelled back. Her voice was an octave higher than usual from the fear and stress. 

“She’s mah responsibility Moonracer! Ai’m her second in command, ya need to go to yer pod.” Chromia said turning away. Moonracer shot up onto her pedes. 

“I’m not leaving her or you!” Moonracer said definitely. 

Chromia let out a deep sigh. “We don have time to argue.” Chromia said pinching the bridge of her nasal ridge. She turned to the control room door and pressed a small white button that opened the door with a little hiss that was drowned out by the roaring of the overworked and dying engines.

Moonracer ran after her stepping into the doorway, behind Chromia. 

There she saw her Commander standing at the bridge, fighting with the control. She could see her reflection in the window, her denta were clenched and her optics were bright with determination. 

Her commander looked up, her helm darting to glance back at Moonracer and Chromia. “I thought I told you to get to your pods!” Elita shouted over the ship. 

“We’re not leavin’ without ya!” Chromia shouted. 

Elita sighed. “Get to your pods Chromia, Moonracer.” Elita said, turning quickly back to the ship’s window.

“But-” Moonracer began. 

“That's an order!” Elita barked causing Moonracer to jump. “Go, now!” She said looking back, her optics were pleading, desperate. 

“What ‘bout you! This ship is ah lost cause, yah said it yerself!” Chromia argued. 

“Chromia,” Elita growled, clenching her denta together. “I’m ordering you to get to your pods. This may be a lost cause, but I’m not letting it crash into the native’s cities.”

Chromia looked away from Elita looking down at her pedes, her lip components were pursed. Moonracer could see the pain in her optics. 

“I cain’t let you do this to yerself.” Chromia said her usually strong voice, small and shaking. 

“Chromia,” Elita's voice was softer now, gentle like a carrier speaking to their sparkling. “Please.” 

“Fine.” Chromia said, her voice cracking. “Moonracer.” She said turning towards the little mint green femme. “Let’s go.” 

“But.” Moonracer protested. 

“Let’s go!” Chroma snapped, grabbing Moonracer’s arm and hauling her away from the door. 

“But- what- what about the commander?” Moonracer asked. She fought against Chromia’s grasp, but it was useless, Chromia was strong and could easily carry someone of Moonacer’s stature. 

“You heard her.” Chromia said hoisting Moonracer over her shoulder like a sack of energon crystals. “We need to go.” 

Everything from that point on everything was a blur. There was a bang as the ship’s second engine exploded. Chromia stumbled. But to Moonracer the noise was muted, nothing felt real anymore.

Chromia found her footing and ran back into the lower decks. There were only two escape pods left. Chromia pressed the button on the side on one and practically threw Moonracer into the pod before stepping in herself. She ran to the controls and quickly online the pod. She pressed a button and the door hissed closed before the pod was ejected from the rest of the ship.

Moonracer starred as she watched the pod fall away from the ship. She could see the damage, fire danced along the side of the ship, and the engines spewed black smoke.

Moonracer could only watch as the ship grew smaller and smaller as the pod fell further and further into the planet’s atmosphere. 


	2. Signals

Ratchet was not a superstitious bot, but he couldn’t shake the feeling something was about to happen. It had begun as a little flutter in his tank. How did the humans put it? Butterflies. Yes. He felt like he had butterflies fluttering around in his tank. 

He didn’t mind the sensation, it wasn’t pleasant but it wasn’t something that distracted him from what he needed to do. What he did mind however was waking up at four in the fragging morning because of it. 

He had been jolted awake by a sudden spike of anxiety. Fear clawing from inside of his abdomen and his limbs tense, ready to bolt. 

He had told himself there was nothing to worry about and tried to reenter his recharge cycle. However, as the kliks snailed by, he found that it was going to be impossible. 

So he just waited until he heard the soft thunk of pedes on the ground to signify that others were waking up. 

Ratchet was not a morning person, in the mornings usually after they had just woken up, the rest of his team tended to steer clear of him or at the very least moderated their behavior to make sure he didn’t throw a wrench in their direction. But this morning they seemed to be making an effort to not even be within wrench throwing distance of him. 

Ratchet wondered if they just knew him that well to tell when he was extra grouchy in the morning, or if he was just that obvious when he had a bad morning. 

Even Smokescreen, as loud and obnoxious as the young mech could be, was moderating his behavior silently sitting against the wall sipping a small energon cube. Occasionally his optics would dart in Ratchet’s direction before glancing away at some corner of the base. 

The roar of engines gradually grew outer until two cars and a motorcycle entered the base. Bulkhead, Bumblebee, and Arcee. Each with their respective human. 

Miko and Raf climbed out of their cars while Jack dismounted. The three bots transformed, and Arcee began to stretch. Ratchet wondered if she had been in her vehicle mode all night by the way she sighed in relief when her joint audibly popped. 

“Hey, Ratchet.” Miko said cheerfully walking past him. 

Ratchet grunted in response stepping towards the keyboard and screen. 

The kids ran to the couch where they all sat down. Miko grabbed the controller and handed another to Jack with a smirk on her face. Jack grabbed the controller with a smug grin. Raf rolled his eyes, smiling as he pulled out a book, while his friends started their game and quickly began to rapidly press buttons on their controllers. 

Bumblebee walked up to Smokescreen who wrapped his arms around the yellow bot and resting his chin on Bumblebee’s helm. Smokescreen always was a little clingy in the morning after Bumblebee went off to do curbside duty. 

“Wheres Jackie?” Bulkhead asks looking around the base. 

“He’s still sleeping.” Ratchet grumbled not looking up from the keyboard and screen. 

“Thanks.” Bulkhead said quickly slipping away, sensing the tension in Ratchet’s voice. 

Bulkhead walked to the small corridor in the back of the base where all the Autobot’s rooms were. Ratchet watched as the green bot tapped on the door calling out his partner’s name. 

Ratchet wasn’t sure if he received a response or took silence to open the door. Either way the door slid open and Bulkhead stepped inside. 

There was a loud cheer from Miko as she threw the game control down, and a groan of defeat from Jack. Ratchet winced at the pitch. Miko did a little victory dance making Jack roll his eyes at her. 

He couldn’t hear when the human children were saying, but he watched Jack hold up Miko’s controller, waving it at her. She grabbed it out of his hand and they sat down again and restarted the game. 

Bumblebee and Smokescreen parted and they walked off to the entrance of the base transforming and driving out with a loud roar of two engines. 

That was when Ratchet heard a loud beep coming from the screen. His helm snapped in its direction.

He read the data on the screen and felt his spark skip a rotation. Multiple Autobot life signals seemingly appeared out of nowhere. And there were two that were within less than a mile from the hanger. 

“Optimus.” Ratchet called over his shoulder. “You might want to come see this.” 

He heard the heavy footsteps of his leader coming up behind him. He turned to look at the prime’s stoic face. He appeared unaffected by this news, but Ratchet could sense a pulse of optimism radiating in his field. 

“New signals?” Ratchet heard Bulkhead’s voice as he walked up behind the medic and his leader. Ratchet turned to see Wheeljack shortly behind Bulkhead, the white and grey bot yawned, as if he had just woken up. “That's good news right?” Bulkhead asked looking between Optimus and Ratchet.

“What's going on?” Arcee asked, the gathering must have attracted her attention. 

“We have new signals.” Wheeljack said.

“Where.” Arcee asked. 

“These particular ones are less than a mile away from our base.” Ratchet said. 

“There are more of them?” Arcee asked. 

“Yes.” Ratchet said. 

“How many?” Arcee asked.

“It’s hard to tell, they're all over the place.” Ratchet said.

“Do you think they were attacked?” Arcee asked.

“Should we investigate?” Wheeljack added. 

“With caution, this could be a Decepticon trick.” Optimus said. 

“When do we start.” Wheeljack asked. 

Ratchet didn’t give a response but started to type the cordance of the life signals’ locations into the ground bridge. Soon there was a bright swirl of green and white light. It looked like a miniaturized galaxy in Ratchet’s opinion. 

Wheeljack shrugged and turned to walk through the ground bridge. Bulkhead followed him shortly thereafter, and then Arcee. Optimus followed them. Ratchet grabbed the medical kit and followed the rest of the bots out to the signal’s location. 

When he stepped out the first thing he was greeted with was dust. He waved her servo trying to clear it from his face. The next thing he saw was the rest of his team approaching a crashed, smoking, escape pod.

Ratchet trotted to catch up with them, pushing past them to get to the front. A figure stepped out from the other side of the pod. They looked to be the same size as Smokescreen, but Smokescreen had door wings and this bot, whoever they were, did not. 

The figure stepped out from behind the pod. Bulkhead and Arcee transformed their servos away to reveal their blasters. The figure put their servos to shoulder height in surrender. 

“Don have a fit, just passin’ through.” The bot chuckled. The bot stepped out further and Ratchet could make out their detail. 

They were green, not Bulkhead green, dark lime green. Ratchet watched Arcee’s optics widen. 

“Greenlight?” She asked.


	3. Crash

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quartex-month  
> Cycle-week  
> Orn-day  
> Jour-hour  
> Klik-minute  
> Nanoklik second

Wheeljack couldn’t see past the mass of Ratchet, Optimus, and Arcee who had somehow managed to wedge herself between them and move into the very front. And the small space left between Optimus and Ratchet was unfortunately covered up by her. All Wheeljack could see were the remnants of what looked to be an escape pod. 

The ship was driven halfway into the ground. Its nose covered by the crackly soil. It made Wheeljack wonder how hard it had hit the ground. The small wings on the side of the ship were torn apart and shrapnel was scattered around the rest of the ship. 

He couldn’t see the end, it was being shielded by the three bots that stood in front of him and Bulk. 

It looked like they were talking, he could hear soft voices. It sounded like Arcee was doing most of the talking and Optimus and Ratchet were just standing around awkwardly. 

“You have any idea what's goin’ on?” He asked Bulkhead, stepping forward so he was shoulder to shoulder with his mate. 

“No idea.” Bulkhead said shrugging. 

Wheeljack paused for a moment. This conversation was taking too long and he was started to get antsy. He wondered who they were talking to. It was obvious that someone had come from that pod, and now they had a conversation with them. He stepped forward. 

He wedged himself trying to brush past both Ratchet and Optimus. 

“'Scuse me, doc.” He said. He heard a soft grunt of annoyance from Ratchet. Optimus just moved to the side allowing Wheeljack enough space to slip past them. He stood right behind Arcee. 

He could see the back of the ship now. It looked like it suffered a great deal of damage. There was no repairing this thing. It was destined for the scrap yard. The back end was burnt to a crisp, something that sometimes happened if the engines are ignited too quickly and are at full throttle. 

The platting lining the pod itself had been ripped off and thrown behind the ship’s wake. 

Whatever had happened the pod looked like it had crashed landed. Whether it was because the pilot of the craft just had no clue how to fly, or the ship was faulty in some way was still up for debate. 

And then his optics fell onto the bot they were talking to. 

It was like the world paused for a moment. 

It was Greenlight. One of the few femme wreckers they had. But that wasn’t the reason he and Greenlight had become friends. 

The femme was a legend among the wrecker ranks. She had the gut to prank Ultra Mangus, she got caught and was sent to clean the wash racks for two whole cycle. (which in Wheeljack’s opinion was some form of torture) There was no way in pit that he didn’t know it was her. But it was worth to watch the slagger sputter.

Greenlight was standing in front of Arcee, her optics held a softness he had never seen on her before. It was almost unnatural to see in on her. But there was a spark of pain that danced in her optics. Wheeljack looked from Arcee to Greenlight, did they know each other?

“It’s been som time.” Greenlight said giving Arcee what Wheeljack could only describe as goo goo eyes. Her voice was almost as soft as the smile gently curving on her face. 

It looked as if both Arcee and Greenlight were completely unaware of the world around them. They looked to be in their own little bubble. 

“G?” He asked, it was a nickname he had given her when she first joined the wreckers. Greenlight’s helm snapped up and Arcee whipped around as if surprised that there were other bots standing behind them.

He heard steps growing louder behind him. The name must have drawn Bulkhead’s attention. 

“Wheeljack?” Greenlight said placing a servo on her hip plating. “S’a surprise seein’ you here. Though you were a lone wolf.” Greenlight said creature quotations with her digits. 

“Yeah, well Bulkhead made me stay.” Wheeljack said pointing a thumb at Bulkhead. 

“Hey! I didn’t make you do anything.” Bulkhead said clapping a large servo on Wheeljack’s shoulder. Wheeljack lurched forward from the force. 

“Yeah. Sure.” Wheeljack said, playfully elbowing Bulkhead’s abdominal plating.

“You know her?” Arcee asked. She looked surprised and there was something else on her face. But she was trying to cover it up. Something she was pretty good at. If Wheeljack wasn’t mistaken though she looked almost hurt. 

“Yeah, G joined the wreckers a little later in the war.” Bulkhead explained pulling Wheeljack from his thoughts. 

There was a soft groan that came from behind the escape pod. Greenlight’s optics widened and ran behind the pod. They could hear her voice, a muffled whisper. 

Arcee and Wheeljack followed Greenlight behind the pod to see an orange femme leaning against the back. Greenlight was stroking her cheek as if to comfort her. 

It was Lancer, Greenlight’s amica. Wheeljack didn’t know Lancer personally, the only things he knew about her were the things Greenlight had told him. The only thing he knew for sure, was that Lancer was an engineer.

The Lancer’s leg had been ripped open. The armor was curled upwards and the mesh had been slashed. Bright blue energon oozed from the wound. The orange femme shifted her position causing her leg to shift and squeeze out more energon. 

Lancer cried out in pain before clamping her intake shut, Wheeljack could see her tightening her jaw and swallowing down her pained cries. Her faceplate twisted when she shifted again. 

“Where are we? What happened.” Lancer managed to croak out. Her voice sounded scratchy and static-y.

“We crashed, you’re outside the pod.” Greenlight said gently stroking her arms. 

“We need to get out of here. We’re out in the open.” Lancer said looking around. shifting to try to get up but fell back down. Greenlight grabbed her shoulders to steady her.

Lancer’s helm lolled to the side and she jumped violently. “Who are these guys.” Lancer asked, Wheeljack could see her feeling along her subspace probably for a blaster, flinching as her leg shifted. Wheeljack stepped back trying to give Lancer room. 

Greenlight’s servo was gently placed on top of Lancer’s to stop the movement. Lancer’s optics were wide. “They’re our allies.” Greenlight said. “We found other Autobots.”

By this time Bulkhead, Ratchet, and Optimus had stepped around the pod to see what the commotion was. 

“By the All-spark!” Ratchet exclaimed rushing towards Lancer and Greenlight.

Wheeljack watched Bulkhead’s face morphed into horror when he saw the energon pooling on the ground. Optimus remained unchanged, but Wheeljack could feel the outskirts of his field pulsing concern dampening the hope that that originally been radiating within it. 

“I will require more than just my medical kit to fix this.” Ratchet said as he examined Lancer’s leg. The scanner’s blue light slowly dragging down Lancer’s battered frame. “How did this happen?” He asked. 

“We crashed, as you can see, and Lancer was thrown into the console.” Greenlight said. “I don remember what happened leadin’ up to it, we were knocked unconscious.” 

“That's a pretty light.” Lancer mumbled to herself chuckling as the scanner moved down her legs. 

“Aaand she officially lost too much energon.” Greenlight sighed. 

“We need to get her back to base.” Ratchet said ignoring Lancer’s loopy comment. “Can you carry her?” Ratchet asked.

“Sure thing, doc.” Greenlight said stooping down to gently pick up her amica.

Wheeljack internally snickered when he watched Ratchet subtly tense at the nickname. 

“This might hurt a little bit, kay.” Greenlight said to Lancer before slowly picking her up into her arms. Lancer whimpered. “Letz go.” Greenlight said shifting Lancer in her arms. She stepped past Ratchet to the swirling portal that had been left open.

Optimus followed shortly behind Greenlight. Ratchet followed behind him, grumping something about ‘don’t call me doc.’ Bulkhead and Arcee were after him. But Wheeljack stayed behind for a few moments looking at the escape pod that was half-buried in the ground. 

“Jakcie!” Bulkhead called standing next to the open portal swirling beside him. “Common we need to go.” 

“I’m comin’ Bulk.” Wheeljack said walking away from the crash sighed, sparing it one last glance before stepping into the portal. 


	4. Perspective

While Miko was busy rubbing her victory over Jack in his face Raf watched as more and more bots began to congregate around the array of screens and various consoles. He wondered what was going on. 

Slowly he closed his book making sure to slip the bookmark he had made from the torn sheet of paper into the book’s crease and shut the book with a quick  _ thwap _ . 

Jack and Miko were beginning to argue (playfully, albeit) about her victory. Jack was saying she cheated, but Miko denied it, crossing her arms and turning away from him before looking back and laughing.

Raf was able to slip away seeing as they were distracted and moved so he was closer to the bots. They were talking to each other in hushed voices; they only did that when something really serious was going on. And it made Raf both curious and worried about what might be about to happen. Or what might be currently happening, it would not be the first time the bot had kept something from the children. 

He couldn’t make out what they were saying to each other, but he watched curiously as Ratchet grabbed what looked like an over sized first aid kit from under the screen’s keyboard. Ratchet walked over to the ground bridge’s controls and types in what Raf could only assume were coordinates and pulled the lever down. 

The ground bridge opened with a zap, the swirling ring of blues, and greens twirled around a blindingly bright center. Several bots followed Optimus as he slowly walked towards the bridge. 

When the bots were all gone with small little static shocks Raf glanced at what all the other bots had been gathering around. He saw a diagram of the earth, it was just a green grin pasted over a sphere, there were no landmasses of bodies of water present. That wasn’t the interesting part, the interesting part was that there were several red dots pulsing on the screen.

What did those symbols mean? Raf thought to himself. They could mean anything to him. Were there going to be more Autobots in the base? Or were those Decepticon markers. If that was the case- but weren’t the Decepticon symbol supposed to be purple?- what did that mean? 

Raf glanced back at Miko and Jack who had sat back down on the couch and were pressing away at the buttons on the controls. Miko had the largest grin on her face, Raf guessed she was winning over Jack who looked less than pleased but still determined. His body leaned forward and his eyes were narrowed. 

But they were still oblivious to the situation. Raf looked back at the screen and noticed that the ground bridge was still open. That was strange usually they closed the bridge once everyone that was needed for the mission had gotten to where they needed to be. 

Was it because Ratchet had gone with them? Why did he go with them in the first place? Was someone hurt? Raf’s mind flooded with too many questions to process all at once. He felt as his heart began to pound in his chest as a feeling of anxiety began to creep up. It felt as if someone was sitting on his chest. He looked away trying to reorder his mind. 

He walked away hoping that the bots could figure it out and wedged himself on the end of the couch seeing as Miko had taken his spot when she and Jack had rematched their game. 

He picked up his book and flipped to the page he had left off. But with an accumulation of Jack and Miko’s taunting, and his mind is so full of questions his head was about to explode he found himself reading and rereading the same page over and over again, getting more and more frustrated when he would finish the page and then realize that he learned collected no new information about the story. 

He finally gave up with a frustrated huff after Miko and Jack had finished their game, or it might have been their third, regardless Miko was practically jumping out of her seat and cheering while Jack slunk back in his seat and, for all intents and purposes, pouted. 

“I beat you again!” Miko said, sticking her tongue out at Jack who huffed and got up. “Awe come on, don’t be such a sore loser.” Miko laughed as Jack began to walk away.

“Where's Arcee?” Jack sighed ignoring Miko.

“She’s not here.” Raf heard Ultra Magnus say as he came up to the small corner of the base reserved for the humans to run around in without the threat of being trampled by accident. “He went with Optimus.”

“Why is the portal still open?” Jack asked, pointing to the swirling mass of colors. Raf perked up, listening closely to see if Magnus would answer the question. 

“I do not control the ground bridge, I do not know.” Magnus said in an impassive voice. Raf slumped in mild disappointment. 

“What do those-” Raf began to ask but he was cut off when the ground bridge sputtered and an unfamiliar bot stepped through the bridge and into the base. They held yet another unfamiliar bot in their arms. Optimus followed in shortly after and then the rest of the bots. 

Raf looked around. “What’s going on?” He asked. He looked at Jack but he knew that he had no answer. Jack shrugged and looked back at the bots who had entered the base. They both stared at the scene that was unraveling in front of them, mesmerized. 

They had caught Miko’s attention and she joined Raf, and Jack at the end of the metal balcony. Raf was just tall enough he could stick his head over the metal bar. 

The unfamiliar bot followed Ratchet as he motioned for them to follow him to the med bay. The bot in the other’s arms flopped around like a rag doll, their head lolling to the side. 

“Arcee,” Jack called as the blue motorcycle stepped further into the base. Raf noticed that she had a strange look on her face and her left hand rubbed up and down her right arm. She had a faraway expression on her face, and she looked conflicted. “Arcee?” Jack called again. But she didn’t answer. She crossed her arms and stared blankly in front of her. “Arcee!” Jack yelled. 

Arcee jumped the third time Jack called her name. “What?” She asked, it was almost a snap, but there was something else in her voice other than anger.

“What’s going on?” Raf asked. 

“I’ll tell you later.”Arcee sighed shaking her head and stepping away from the corner and back into the small crowd that was collecting. 


	5. Greenlight

Arcee quickly stepped away from the children and their inquiries, she didn’t even spare the children a glance as she heard their sighs and groans of disappointment. She distinctly heard a ‘come on!’ from Miko and then Jack began to speak but his voice was completely drowned out by Miko’s. She didn’t see her but she was almost certain that her hands were thrown up in frustration. 

She looked at Greenlight across the room standing across from Ratchet and holding onto Lancer’s servo into hers while Ratchet looked at the damage that had been inflicted onto her frame.

The damage was pretty severe. Along with the tear in her leg, Lancer had been riddled with dents and scratches that went just deep enough little beads of energon pooled into them but not enough to stream down from the wound. Arcee wondered to herself how long it might take to get her leg in working order again. And if Lancer would ever be able to walk normally again. 

They were lucky that Ratchet was here as their medic. He often didn’t credit himself enough, and often criticized even his best work. Even if he knew that he was only working with what he had he always told the others he could have done better. Regardless of what Ratchet thought of his work, Lancer could not be in better servos. 

Arcee watched as Greenlight stood over Lancer holding onto her servo. Arcee felt a strange twinge in her spark. At first, she thought it was jealousy and felt shame flood into her face in the form of blush blooming across her cheek plating. She had no right to be jealous of Lancer; one she had known Greenlight the longest and had been her amica since the dawn of time, they had been amicas for so long that some joked that they had been born with their amica bond. And second, she and Greenlight hadn’t been a  _ thing _ since a few vorns before the war started back on Cybertron. To say that it had been a while might be an understatement. 

Arcee found another wall away from the children and their questions to lean against and observe her ex from afar.

Thoughts flooded into her processor.

After Greenlight she found Tailgate. Arcee shuddered at his memory, now nothing more than a black hole in her spark. After all this time, she still wasn’t over his death, she still wasn’t over any of their deaths and she didn’t think she ever would be. 

She felt a bitter laugh rising in her throat that she just managed to hold back, but couldn’t keep the bitter smile that stretched across her faceplate, along with a hard lump that she couldn’t just swallow down. 

She looked up again to see Ratchet waving at Greenlight who was hesitantly stepping away from the orange bot. She watched Greenlight half step towards Lancer before jumping when Ratchet raised his voice. She nodded holding her servos out in the universal sign for ‘I give up, you win’ and walked away slowly sparing one last glance at her amica before walking further into the base. 

Arcee chuckled, grateful she had something to push her other feelings down with. 

Ratchet did that to everyone. Her, Bulkhead, even Optimus, especially Optimus who could be just as stubborn as he was when he wanted to be. Ratchet preferred to work with no one there to get in his way or bombard him with questions. Which was understandable, but frustrating when you were the one being ushered out of the med bay. 

Greenlight trotted up to Bulkhead and Wheeljack who apparently were friends she had made while in the wrecker’s division. 

She watched as they shared a few words and laughed. A sound that filled the whole base. Bulk had his arm swung over Wheeljack’s shoulder and even though the white and grey mech was trying to hide it, Wheeljack was leaning into Bulkhead.

Arcee glanced at Ultra Magnus since he had been the wrecker’s commander and Arcee knew that Greenlight could be something of a smart-aft and trickster at times, she wondered what his reaction to her would be. 

Arcee almost snorted when she saw Ultra Magnus’ face. He was trying so hard to hide his expression, to keep it neutral, but he was failing. His expression was sour and his optics were narrowed in suspicion. 

His jaw was set, he looked more worried and irritated than anything, and he would always glance at Greenlight before looking away. It was fair to say that he and Greenlight probably butted helms while he was her commander. 

Greenlight must have seen Magnus looking at her as well because she raised her servo and wiggled her digits at him in a mockingly flirtatious way. Magnus rolled his optics, pursed his lip components, and glared back at her. 

Wheeljack and Greenlight laughed at Magnus’s reaction.

“What’s wrong commander, aren't you glad to see me?” Greenlight asked innocently. 

“I’d rather not have another incident like last time.” Ultra Magnus said, pursing his lip components. 

“I don’t plan on pranking you any time soon, hope it helps.” Greenlight said.

“Barley,” Mangus grumbled. Greenlight chuckled again, shaking her helm. She turned to Wheeljack and Arcee could barely hear her words but just managed to parse out ‘four million years and he still hasn’t changed.’ Wheeljack chuckled. ‘That’s Magnus.’ she managed to parse from Wheeljack. 

And then Greenlight’s optics landed on Arcee. All humor and laughter died from her faceplate and it was replaced with that same look she had been giving Arcee when they had first met at the crash sigh. Wheeljack glanced at what Greenlight was looking at, Arcee saw him smirk and lightly punched her shoulder. 

Greenlight rubbed her shoulder and grumbled at Wheeljack. Wheeljack motioned to Arcee with his shoulder. Greenlight sighed ‘she doesn’t want to see me’ Arcee heard her words drifting through the air. 

She felt herself go ridged. It felt as if something had plucked a string in her spark as Greenlight’s words struck a chord with her. Did she think Arcee didn’t want to see her, or was it an excuse because  _ she _ didn’t want to see Arcee? A little part of Arcee boiled with rage and the other stung with hurt. 

Arcee looked back at Greenlight making sure to keep her face stony as the lump in her throat grew. 

Greenlight looked away, glanced down at her pedes, and let out a heavy sigh, before striding over to Arcee.

She stopped when she was an arm's length away from Arcee. 

Arcee had to crane her neck upwards to look at the lime green femme who offered her a smile but Arcee didn’t return it. Greenlight was significantly taller than Arcee, but that wasn’t a very hard feat to achieve, everyone (except for the humans) was taller than she was.

Greenlight stepped back away to give Arcee some more space.

“Hey.” She said rubbing the back of her helm. 

“Hey.” Arcee said, trying to make her voice remain even. She couldn’t tell if Greenlight could see through her. Greenlight swallowed seemingly unaware,  _ good _ . Arcee could see the nervousness in her optics. Greenlight’s optics were always very expressive. 

“How have you been?” Greenlight asked. 

“Where at war what do you think?” She asked, she could detect venom in her voice and by the way, Greenlight’s nervousness melted away and turning into something Arcee couldn’t read, she knew Greenlight could too. Her voice shook a little bit. 

“Yeah, sorry stupid question.” Greenlight laughed looking away. Her laugh was an empty bark. Very quickly it died away. They stood in silence, Arcee at a loss for words. “It’s nice to see you.” Greenlight said, turning away and rejoining with Bulk and Wheeljack. 


	6. Failed Attempts

Wheeljack was confused, so say the very least, when Greenlight turned away from Arcee after ten nano-kliks of conversation. The look on her face was unreadable but Wheeljack could see she was crestfallen. 

Only for Arcee to push off the wall and storm her way to her room. Greenlight winced when she heard the door slam shut. 

Wheeljack was a little confused. The entire time Greenlight’s back was turned to them she looked like a scared little school femmeling confessing to her first crush. She looked timid and small like she was trying to shrink away into nothing, very much unlike her usual confident self. 

Usually, Greenlight was good with her words, but the way that Arcee seemed to glare at her, it made it seem like Greenlight was being less than convincing. He could hear some of what they were saying. After exchanging a greeting they just stared at each other for a moment saying nothing. 

Wheeljack was inwardly cringing for Greenlight. What was she so nervous about? He knew that they had known each other in the past, was it really that awkward for them?

It was true that Arcee was a little harder to please, but Greenlight could sometimes pull a smile out of Ultra Magnus when she played her cards right (though it was a rare occasion usually he just shrugged it off). 

“What was that all about?” Wheeljack asked. 

“I told you Jackie she doesn’t want to see me.” Greenlight sighed. 

“I can’t think of any reason why she wouldn’t want to see you.” Wheeljack said. He inwardly cringed at his own response, he knew absolutely nothing about Arcee and Greenlight’s past together. In fact, he didn’t even know they  _ knew _ each other until today.

“Well, I can think of  _ many _ reasons why she wouldn't want to see me, Wheeljack.” Greenlight said. 

Wheeljack wanted to shrink back a little, the only time that Bulk or G ever used his full name was when he was in trouble. Or when they were irritated at him. Greenlight was known to blow up when she was pushed too far. 

“What happened?” He asked, slowly anticipating Greenlight to get angry, but she didn’t, she just sighed. She actually looked upset. 

“We didn’t leave each other on the best note, that’s all I’m going to say.” Greenlight said. 

“I don’t think she hates you.” Bulkhead interjected. “It just takes her a bit to warm up to new bots, just ask Smokescreen…” Bulkhead looked around realizing the young mech was gone. “When he gets back.” he added sheepishly.

“She hates me, you saw her glaring at me from across the room.” Greenlight said motioning to the spot that Arcee once stood.

“Arcee could be happy as a clam and still looked slagged off.” Bulkhead said. “Trust me.”

“Just give her some time.” Wheeljack added putting a servo on Greenlight’s shoulder.

“Sure.” She said shifting so Wheeljack’s servo fell off. She walked past Wheeljack and Bulkhead. She leaned against the med bay’s door but didn’t go inside. Wheeljack couldn’t help but smile, despite the situation, when Ratchet glazed up and Greenlight with a piercing glare. 

\--

Greenlight let out a heavy sigh. It didn’t surprise her that Arcee didn’t want to see her, after all the things they had said to each other during their last argument had been very harsh. Even though Greenlight knew that Arcee had every right to hate her, it still didn’t soothe the sting that cut through her spark.

She leaned against the med bay door watching Ratchet work on Lancer. He glanced up at her, “Don’t you come in here.” He growled looking back down at his work. 

Most of the dents in Lancer’s armor had been banged out and the small scratches had been patched up and welded together. He was now working on her leg now, the bleeding had stopped, that was good, and the torn mech had been welded back together. He was working on reconnecting severed wires. 

“What in the frag did she do to get this?” Ratchet asked, he didn’t even look up. 

“The pod’s engines didn’t fire right away, and when she got it working against the force threw her into the back of the ship.” Greenlight said. It was all she could remember, all she could recall was slamming into the floor and then darkness. She didn’t even get to register the pain before she had been knocked offline. 

The very last thing she had felt was a frantic pulse from the other side of her amica bond with Lancer. 

She had woken feeling tingly. And not in a good way, it was the kind of tingling that came after immense pain. Greenlight had been glad that she was out for the majority of the ordeal. 

Greenlight’s thoughts began to wander to Arcee again. But she pushed them away and tried to focus on something else. Her processor wandered to the whereabouts of the rest of her team. 

She wondered where they were and if they were okay. She hoped that the other pods were in better condition than her and Lancer’s was. She wondered what happened to Elita, who was intent on staying with the ship, 'a good captain always goes down with their ship’ she used to tell them that.

She wondered about Ironhide and Acid Storm, who had been the first to leave. Acid Storm had tried to get Lancer to come with them, but Elita had explicitly said that they would be using the buddy system, no one should go alone in case they encountered cons. Lancer decided to stay with Greenlight. Acid Storm had looked upset by her decision, but they said nothing about it. 

Flareup and Firestar had gone next. And then she and Lancer gone. She had no clue what happened to Moonracer or Chromia. She worried about them. Where were they? Were they okay? 

But what was the point of her wondering when there was nothing that could be done to figure out where they were? 

She jumped when she heard the screen and consoles beep. 

“Someone get that!” Ratchet hollered. 

Greenlight quickly got up and ran over. There was a red dot that was blinking on a page and a small line that came from it giving them coordinates to the location. Two little Autobot singles danced around the dot. 

Could that be someone from her team?


	7. New Recruits

Bumblebee and Smokescreen laughed as they raced around each other, weaving in front and behind the other. It was probably a good thing that there wasn’t anyone else on the road. Neither of them was driving at a safe speed, it was a fifty mile an hour road, but they were both going at least eighty miles per hour probably more. Smokescreen checked his speedometer. Yep, he was going almost a hundred miles an hour  _ and _ he was in the wrong lane. If there was another car coming he could speed right into a head-on collision and probably go flying. 

Bumblebee gunned his engine as he weaved around Smokescreen. Smokescreen honked his horn playfully at his court-mate. Bumblebee honked back in a short little rhythm. 

Suddenly Smokescreen’s com blinked on, and a burst of static filled his audials startling him. Smokescreen slammed on his breaks, his wheels locked with a shriek. He skidded for a moment leaving dark black lines on the road’s asphalt. Bumblebee did the same thing, not ten nano-kliks later.

The coms read a very simple message from Ratchet, which sent a pulse of fear through Smokescreen’s spark, which usually meant that something was wrong. Most of the time it was one of their other teammates that hailed them back to the compound “<<come back to base>>” it said. 

Both Smokescreen and Bumblebee turned around and began to speed back the way they came. They didn’t swerve or weave around each other, they drove in a single file line as quickly as they could. Another message pinged in their coms. “<<give me a minute I’m sending you a bridge, stay where you are.>>” They halted once more. 

Both Bee and Smokescreen transformed quickly after looking around the see if anyone was around, which seemed kind of pointless to Smokescreen since they had been racing as fast as they could to their spark’s content and never ran into any issues. Issues being other drivers on the road.

“You got any idea what might be going on?” Smokescreen asked, turning to the yellow and black bot standing just a few feet away from him. Bumblebee shrugged with a few beeps. 

“I have no idea.” He beeped out.

“I hope everything is okay.” Smokescreen said softly. It seemed so, Ratchet didn’t seem too urgent, but it was strange that Ratchet was going to comming. His mind raced at all the things that could have happened while they were gone. Most of them were almost impossible, like cons attacking (they didn’t even know their base’s location and it wasn’t like they were actively looking for it.)

“I’m sure everything is fine,” Bumblebee said, stepping towards Smokescreen and placing a dark servo onto the young mech’s arm. The soft touch pulled Smokescreen out of his thought frenzy and back into the real world. He looked over at his court-mate and placed a servo on top of the one touching his arm.

“I hope you’re right.” He said softly. 

A bright ground bridge portal opened before them with a burst of electricity and static. They stepped towards it without thinking twice, climbing into the portal and walking towards its blindingly bright center.

They appeared on the other side to a strange sight. Everyone was relaxed and yet the whole base was a buzz. Bots were milling around, some were clustered together and he noticed that Ratchet was in the med-bay.

Smokescreen felt his spark jump into his throat. Had someone gotten hurt? The ground bridge turned off as Smokescreen and Bumblebee moved further into the base.

Smokescreen noticed that there  _ was _ a bot in the med bay but he didn’t recognize their colors. They were bright orange with patches of purple on them. And there was another bot that he didn’t recognize, they were bright lime green and had some white on their frame.

“Oh, good you’re here.” Ratchet said looking up from the strange orange bot he was working on. “Bulkhead will tell you what you need to know.” He said pointing his wrench at the dark green mech standing around the consoles.

Bulkhead shot Ratchet, a look that said he wasn’t quite on board with Ratchet’s decision but he didn’t say anything about it. 

“Bulk what's going on?” Smokescreen asked, stepping up to the mech. Wheeljack was by his side looking up at the screen and standing next to him was the other strange bot. 

“We got new recruits.” Bulkhead said. The strange green bot stepped forward and gave Smokescreen and Bumblebee a small wave before returning her attention to the screen. “This is Greenlight.” Bulkhead gestured to the lime green bot. “She was our buddy while we were a part of the wreckers.” 

“Hey.” They said. 

Smokescreen nodded at her before looking up at the screen. There was a big red dot smack dab in the middle of the South American continent. Two Autobot symbols danced around the red dot. 

“What does that mean?” Smokescreen asked. 

“It means that there are other Autobots out there.” Wheeljack said. 

\--

“Frag it all!” Chromia snarled, kicking the door out from the pod’s entrance. They had only just managed to land the pod on the ground. They had hit so many trees, Moonracer was surprised there was still a forest standing around them. Moonracer flinches at the shriek of metal twisting. The door crashed against the ground with a loud thud, another crash was heard as another tree was toppled. 

Moonracer climbed out of the co-pilot’s chair. She followed Chromia out of the pod and into the strange alien world before her. 

She turned to look at the pod, the shiny silver plating was scratched and dulled. The exterior of the ship was also covered in dents and cracked spider-webbed all over. 

Chromia yelled again and stomped over to the pod. There was a sharp clang and then a loud curse when Chromia kicked the side of the pod. Moonracer had to keep her laughter in when Chromia hopped on one pede holding the other in her servo.

“Slag! I shouldn’t have done that!” She growled when she finally put her pede down on the ground again. 

“Are you alright?” Moonracer asked, trying to desperately keep her voice even.

“Fine.” Chromia grumbled. 

There was a soft rumble. Both Chromia and Moonracer looked up to see a massive ship floating through the sky like some demonic cloud. Moonracer felt her spark drop into her tanks. The ship was unmistakable, she remembered back on Cybertron when she would see it high in the sky. Chromia grabbed Moonracer’s servo as they both darted back into the pod. 

Moonracer’s spark pounded as they listened closely. Even their breathing seemed too loud to be safe. It felt as if they grasped the ‘cons would find them. 

And they waited. Waited for the ship to move past them. But the sound, that terrible horrible sound, never ceased.


End file.
